Further Reading

In April, EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager issued a Statement of Objections—essentially a charge sheet outlining the findings of a preliminary investigation.

The commissioner claims there is sufficient evidence that Google is harming consumer choice through contracts that force smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google services.

Google was initially given three months to respond to the charges, but its deadline was extended to September 7.

“We take these concerns seriously, but we also believe that our business model keeps manufacturers’ costs low and their flexibility high, while giving consumers unprecedented control of their mobile devices,” said Google in response to the charges back in April.

Google also faces antitrust charges with regard to search for favouring its own online shopping service over rivals, and in June the commission hinted that a third investigation, this time into the company's Adwords, was in the offing.

Google could be fined up to $7.4 billion—10 percent of its global turnover—if found guilty of any of these charges.

Meanwhile, last month Russian authorities fined Google almost £5.25 million (438 million rubles, $6.8 million) for breaching competition rules with its Android mobile operating system in a case remarkable similar to that under investigation by officials in Brussels.

However, lobby group the Application Developers Alliance warned against the commission overturning the applecart.

In a report published on Thursday, the organisation said: "Self-regulation, instead of government intervention, appears to be the most suitable solution in such a fast-developing ecosystem. The report found that the solutions lay in the app marketplace players’ hands, as those in the industry are better equipped and motivated to create guidelines and abide by them than external authorities."